Most of the dead in the Beslan siege - and the Moscow theater siege and the Budyonnovsk siege - resulted from Russian incompetence, not Chechen bloodthirstiness.

Just curious - did you also call the Afghan resistance fighters back in the 1980s murdering terrorist rats, or were those guys "freedom fighters"? They are much the same, and in both cases, the Russians killed many, many more innocent Afghans and Chechens than the Afghans and Chechens killed innocent Russians.

"Most of the dead in the Beslan siege...resulted from Russian incompetence."

And I suppose the 323 who died, half of them children, many because they were shot in the back by the people you're defending, died because of Russian incompetence.

I suppose it was Russian incompetence that forced the hostages to drink their own urine after three days with no food or water? Damn Russians.

Guess it was the guilt of the Russian military that compelled the terrorists you're defending to drag those screaming teenage girls out in front of all those children, rape them and videotape themselves in the act.

That same guilt must have elicted the repeated stabbing of an 18-month old baby when a certain terrorist ran out of ammunition. Nice call defending that; anyone can see it was a reasonable course of action.

It's comforting to the rest of us ignorant schmucks to know there are more informed, evolved sensibilities like yours out there - people who can help bring balance and perspective to events like these.

It takes a searing intellect and a superior morality to be able to see through the typical knee-jerk responses the rest of the world, terrorists and certain Muslim clerics excluded, had for those 350+ teachers and children.

Did anyone mention there were 150+ children in that total, many of whom were shot in the back trying to escape? Damn Russian incompetence.

I suppose the 323 who died, half of them children, many because they were shot in the back by the people you're defending, died because of Russian incompetence.

EXACTLY right. They did. The vast majority of the dead were not "shot in the back in cold blood" by the Chechens, but were killed in the shootout when the dumbass Russians launched a bothced effort to storm the school.

All that nonsense about rape and torture is Russian propaganda intended to get Russians (and the world) worked up against the Chechens so the Russians can continue their immoral, genocidal occupation of Chechnya.

Bottom Line: at Beslan, just as at Budyonnovsk, there would have been a LOT less casualties if the Russians hadn't started shooting. And if they don't want this kind of thing happening, they should get their greedy imperialistic asses out of Chechnya, where they have no business being in the first place.

Chechen terrorists were responsible for all deaths in the Beslan. Had they not taken those hostages, there would have been no deaths. IF they were freedom fighters, they would not have attacked civilians, but instead gone after Russian soldiers.

The Russians are responsible for every death in Beslan, because if they were not in Chechnya the Chechens would not have gone to Beslan.

Furthermore, if they had not attacked the school in a clumsy, stupid fashion, there would not have been nearly so many deaths. When the police use excessive and unnecessary force to apprehend a criminal, you don't say "well if the bad guy hadn't committed his crimes, the police wouldn't have been forced to burn down the whole neighborhood", you hold the police accountable for being stupid.

You are TRULY pathetic if you are unable to appreciate that Russia is the rapist, not the rape victim. Anything the Chechens have done to Russia, the Russians have done to Chechnya a thousand times over. The Russians deserve NO sympathy. They are NOT the victims, they are the perpetrators.

Thanks for the sophomoric morality lecture delivered from the comfort of your home. Wonder how your feelings about "wrong" and "right" would change if the Russian Army was in your town, murdering, raping and exterminating the inhabitants.

Let's see, the Chechens can (a) lie down and die, (b) fight the Russian Army head on, or (c) take the fight to Russia asymmetrically in a "terrorist" campaign. Choices (a) and (b) are "right" but are stupid and don't work - the Chechens tried (b) for a while, they lost. Choice (c) is "wrong" (except at the level of "an eye for an eye") but at least has some chance of success.

No muslim terrorists, no dead children. Get it?

WRONG. You will have lots of dead children - thousands and thousands of them - but they will all be Chechen. I guess you're OK with that, though. Dead Chechens don't count, only dead Russians.

I blame the incompetence of the Littleton police for the Columbine massacre.

And y'know, if it weren't for those damn rebels in Darfur (who don't know what's good for them) revolting against their authoritarian Islamic government, those hundreds of thousands of people wouldn't have been hacked to death and sold off into slavery.

Now that you have me thinking clearly: if the Jews didn't have their greedy little hands in everything the Holocaust wouldn't have had to happen, y'know?

And if they'd just get their greedy, Zionist asses out of Israel, we wouldn't have any problems in the Middle East, now would we?